Pages

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Pumpkin Carrot Cake

I have never tried baking cakes with raw pumpkin and was glad when Amy Beh shared a recipe for Pumpkin Carrot Cake. The moist cake tasted good, the sweet pumpkin blended well with the slightly sourish cranberries. I have reduced the sugar somewhat and tweaked the method too. I'll be baking this again for the Chinese New Year.

This cake was an instant hit with my family ....... Try it!

Recipe for Pumpkin Carrot Cake

Ingredients

190 gm self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

120 gm caster sugar (orig. 170 gm)

100 gm butter

50 gm canola oil

4 eggs

30 gm ground almonds

120 gm shredded pumpkin

30 gm shredded carrot

60 gm dried cranberries - cut and coated with some flour from above

1 tsp vanilla

Method

Sift the self-raising flour with baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar till light, thick and creamy.

Add in eggs one at a time, mix well.

Add in oil and vanilla.

Add in the sifted flour mixture.

Add in shredded pumpkin, carrots, ground almonds and finally the cut and flour coated cranberries. Mix thoroughly, scraping from the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl.

Transfer batter into a lightly greased and floured 8 inch square tin.

Bake in preheated oven @ 180 deg.C for about 45 - 50 mins. Test with skewer till it comes out clean. Allow to cool in tin for about 10 mins.

HiSoniaThis cake calls for self-raising flour. I suppose you can use plain flour. I use 1 teasp baking powder for 8 oz of flour, now 190 gm of self-raising flour is around 7 oz., so I should think a little more than 3/4 teasp baking powder should be ok. But also remember to add in the 1/2 tsp baking soda. Do let me know after you've tried it.

Impromptu DivaAnncooYes, the colour is apt for CNY, orangish, yellowish, reddish, very auspicious!

This cake looks very very yummy!! I shall try it. However, I noticed that your cakes are very crumbly and that can only be because you have cut down on the sugar. Sugar is not used as just a flavoring agent but also to act as an added moisture and binding agent. Hence, cutting down on sugar will create a crumbly cake. Moreover you have cut down a lot of sugar.. I shall try with the original amount of sugar.

BunniesThanks for dropping by my blog. Yes, I always cut down on the sugar in my recipes because I don't wish to end up being a diabetic! You can try with the original amount of sugar and perhaps it'll look better. Anyway, thanks for the info re sugar.